Law Proposed on Extending Maternity Leave Benefits

Lawmaker Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo pushed for a bill filed to give mothers longer bonding and recovery time after childbirth with their babies. The bill filed under the House of Representatives (House Bill 2583) gives women with normal deliveries to have a maternity leave of 84 days, and for women who have had caesarean deliveries to have a maternity leave of 100 days. This is contrary to the 60 days current length of the maternity leave for normal deliveries and 84 calendar days for caesarean deliveries.

Employed women covered by the SSS (Social Security System) and GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) will receive a maternity benefit amounting to 150% of her current daily wage, allowances and other cash benefits.

The bill aims to be in accordance with the International Labor Organization’s Convention No. 103 encouraging its participating countries to have maternity benefits sufficient for the “healthy maintenance of the woman and her child” to comply with “a suitable standard of living.”